As we’re sure you’ve all heard by now, the number of subscribers to the 2013 Masters of the Universe Classics Club Eternia at Mattel (MattyCollector.com) has dropped drastically from last year to this year. This has put the future of the line in danger of being cancelled altogether.

We’ve seen a lot of the discussion on various message boards and blogs surrounding this issue, and many people have commented that this may be some sort of ruse by Mattel just to sell more subscriptions and that there’s no true danger of the line ending. Well, you should know by now that we’ve always tried to be as open, honest and transparent with the fans as we could possibly be, and we’re telling you now that the Masters of the Universe Classics action figure line IS currently in danger of ending sooner than expected because of a sudden and drastic drop in the number of subscriptions to the line.

Mattel has never reached out to us for our assistance about anything of this nature in the past. In this case they have, so we know this is serious and we’re 100% confident that everything you’ve heard described by them is absolutely true, but it also tells us that there are people at Mattel that are as passionate about this stuff as many of the fans are and don’t want to see it end prematurely again. They’re not trying to get subscriptions because they need the extra money. As beloved as Masters of the Universe Classics is, monetarily it’s barely a blip on Mattel’s enormous radar. MotU Classics is a sort of love letter to all of the fans of the property who’ve kept the Eternian fire alive for this line over the past thirty years, and hopefully will continue supporting the property in their usual rabid manor however they can for many years to come.

We’re not going to get into the speculation of why or how the number of subscriptions might have so drastically dropped between last year and this year. You’ve probably read all of that stuff over and over again at this point. But we will say that even with the hiccups that have taken place throughout the history of the MotU Classics line, we still feel that it’s still one of the coolest toy lines produced today (possibly ever – at the risk of sounding conceited), and it amazes us that a massive corporation like Mattel has such love for the toy line and the fans that they’d continue to make every effort to produce the figures even without any sort of media backing or any huge return on their dollars invested. What may seem like just a giant toy producing machine to many of you, is actually a large group of people that are just as excited and anticipatory as each of you are about each new MotU Classics figure’s release. When these “hiccups” within the line occur, you can bet that it upsets them just as much as, if not more than, it upsets you and us.

So what happens now? Well, at this point we’re going to beg you to subscribe if you haven’t already. And the only real reason we’re begging at this point is so we’ll all have a shot at getting all of those awesome characters that you’ve all wanted to see in 3D plastic form in the MotU Classics line since it’s inception. We want them too! Ninjor? Mermista? Dragstor? Octavia? Squeeeze? Hydron? Peekablue? Saurod? Rio Blast? Batros? Gwildor? (okay… maybe not Gwildor) Freakin TWO-BAD?!? C’mon. Cornboy WANTS his Two-Bad… Are you going to make Cornboy cry? Don’t make Cornboy cry. There are obviously many more characters we could list here, but you get the idea.

We’re not saying that any of the characters listed above are currently scheduled to be made, and we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to get to every single character that’s been requested, but what we can guarantee is that if the subscription levels needed to keep this line alive are not met, there’s absolutely no way we’ll get to see all of the characters we’d like to see in MotU Classics.

So, the bottom line is – PLEASE subscribe, and please spread the word as much as possible to get others to subscribe as well. There’s only a little more than a week left to get your subscription rolling, so time is of the essence. You can go here to begin your 2013 subscription to the MotU Classics Club Eternia.

We’re not asking as a bunch of guys who’re working on the line. We’re asking as fans of Master of the Universe and this toy line. Please subscribe to the 2013 Masters of the Universe Classics Club Eternia.

Thanks!-FOUR HORSEMEN-

_________________JLU Forever! And is MOTUC EVER getting around to Ram Man?

Interesting. It doesn't sound disingenuous. I've already subscribed, so I've done my part. And I don't know any scalpers/resellers to talk into getting multiple subs. Although that seems to be the ticket to keep this thing rolling.

Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 6:30 pmPosts: 3628Location: The Great Country of Texas!

Wow. Coming from someone else, I'd be skeptical. But seeing this from the 4H, it's pretty scary to be honest.

I have to say though, from what I've seen, the biggest part of the problem lies with Digital River. Not Mattel, not the 4H, but DR. There are several threads on AFI alone (not to mention the org site) that detail absolute horror stories. Both with MOTUC & DCIE. I doubt it covers all of the drop, but it can't be ignored as a factor.

Having said that, I hope both subs make it. It'd be a shame to see them end.

I will continue to cherry-pick so if it comes down to the line ends or I go all in then I'd rather it just end then me be stuck with figures I do not want or have to resell. I'm honestly happy with the line and the only 2 I really want now are Mekanek and Ram Man so if I have to go without on Ram Man oh well.

_________________“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson

this is humilliating and miserable, the people at Mattel abuse us all the time with their lies, expensive prices, unwanted characters, psychological terrorism and now that we are tired of their mediocrity they beg. Mattel is shameless

Mattel guards sales numbers like they’re state secrets, so there’s no way to know whether they’ve increased the number of subscriptions needed this time around or if there has been a drop off in customers, but let’s assume that it is the latter. The DC and Masters of the Universe brands have been around several years now and the most requested figures have been produced. So we’re at the point where fandom becomes fractured and people a less likely to go all in on a subscription even if most of the figures have been revealed. There are MOTU fans that just want the toys of their youth (me), there’s She-Ra fans, New Adventures fans, 200X fans, and yes a fraction that just loves every MOTU piece of merchandise they can afford (Pixel Dan). With DC, well basically there’s fans of every iteration of their reboots. Daniel, you were in the AFI thread where Jh1-whatever-his-handle was threatening to burn the Constantine figure if it was in the sub because it wasn’t part of “his DC” even after people showed off multiple images of Constantine on bronze age covers and testimonials about the great character work done by various artist in the Vertigo line. I have the current DC and MOTU subs and I’ve been very disappointed by Rocket Red (scale and design issues) and the Star Sisters (POP prototypes glimpsed for a minute in one episode) respectively. These were not regular $20-25 offerings, these were both about ~$40 all said and done. But the problem is not increased figure prices. As Poe Ghostal pointed out on his blog “the total cost of the 2013 [MOTUC] sub (before shipping) is $505, while the total cost of the 2012 sub was $510.” The problem is the subscription based format and the customer is always right. Mattel is going to have to figure out another way to sell action figures.

I don't think they arte nuts at all. it's a business, why not try to get as many sold as possible, scare tactic or not? As they said to Mattel MOTU is a drop in the bucket but I'd bet to 4h this is a very, very big deal.

I'd be perfectly fine working on my MOC/MIB G1 Transformers, 80's Gi Joe and 70's SW collection if they canceled all of this stuff. The only line I'd prolly miss is MU as there are still a few characters I really would like.

_________________“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.” Thomas Jefferson

"AFI is my home for JLU" Thomas Jefferson

Last edited by ian5555 on Thu Jul 26, 2012 11:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well I will be disappointed we dont get Two Bad-- and my wife will that she gets no more POPs but other than that oh well..

I just Granyamir was part of the sub this year instead of that 4 armed thing Im stuck paying for... The only reason I even signed up this year was for Shadow Weaver-- the rest would be day of sale purchases for me- so I wouldnt be stuck with Crap figs like Horde Prime,Slush Head and those quarterly craptastic figures..

_________________Fastest know derailer of threads in the know universe...expanded or otherwise.